Getting rid of POOP flows through other Cluttergories
It’s amazing what happens when we take steps to de-clutter.
With tax season coming, we’ve run out of space to file our paperwork.
My husband had removed older records from the filing cabinet, which made it so much easier to file current paperwork.
Now, the IRS requires us to save the last seven years of records. For some of us entrepreneurs, who file Schedule C’s, that means lots of documentation.
What to do?
Store the papers in plastic containers or bankers boxes.
But there’s no more room!
Okay, just buy another container.
Wait, that means MORE STUFF!
The time has come for us to do something about all this POOP—Piles of Overwhelming Paperwork.
Our once-every-three-year approach has resulted in a backlog of POOP.
Surprisingly, hubby agreed to sit down with me for two hours every Sunday, until we clear up more space. Hubby usually doesn’t agree to such things; especially, when I want to take the time to reflect on our past, together. You may remember from the book, he’s a “toss-it-all” kinda guy!
Yet, it’s amazing what two people can accomplish by setting aside a little time each weekend, until we get the job done. The photo at the top of this article is one-week’s carefully digested POOP that’s now ready for the shredder. Imagine how much space we’re creating in our storage container after several weeks of this!
What has happened so far has been unexpected.
I feel the relief in other areas of my life—in those other cluttergories that encroach on our daily functioning, without our knowing (or admitting) it.
I feel lighter. I’m losing a few winter pounds, too. More importantly, I feel lighter, mentally (mental clutter).
Maybe that lightheadedness is a warning of something else!
Seriously, I feel less burdened by those nagging thoughts, like: When will I have time and the energy to get to it?
We’re gettin’ it done!
And I have the energy to move on.
I’ve made the time to take more walks in nature.
Next, is the bankers box full of stock and options trades from years past. I actually, look forward to revisiting these records. Although, trading in today’s market is vastly different (more speculative); I expect a goldmine of hindsight within those records—learnings that I may apply, today.
Maybe an article or two… or even a book! 😉
Tax season is here. What will you do differently?
To help you without adding to your paperwork, LISTEN to an audio edition of STUFFology 101. 🙂
For a related article click on: We need to declutter and archive statements more often.
Brenda Avadian 2021 
Always good to lighten our load, especially with paperwork we look at daily!
I am also going through Piles of Overwhelming Paperwork – POOP as part of the tax filing process. Not feeling lighter just yet, but getting there slowly but surely. Clutter removal is a process not an event.
Great information. Ties beautifully in with a Chi-To-Be! Energy Surge I share on how to keep our chi moving by clearing clutter.
Thank YOU, Stacey and Eric for your comments. Yes, we need to keep the Chi energy flowing freely… especially, when it comes to clearing the POOP (Piles of Overwhelming Paperwork) in our lives.
Brenda and Eric,
I haven’t yet finished reading this fun book. Unfortunately, I have been able to relate to at least one thing on every page so far! As I was reading about POOP, I started laughing, thinking of a time that poop got rid of a great deal my POOP… literally!
I met Brenda when we were in graduate school together. This was “back in the day,” so writing my thesis meant having boxes and boxes of “key-punched” cards with all of my data, along with multiple typed copies of revisions of the thesis itself. Since this was before the days of word-processors, each of these drafts was the result of days of tedious typing and revising… So, even once I completed my thesis, and received my degree, I couldn’t bear to just throw away the evidence of all this work! Instead, I stored it in the bottom of my closet, and there it stayed. Until my beagle decided I had left all that paperwork for her to shred into a nest to deliver her puppies! As a result, puppy poop, along with other bodily elements, put good use to this particular pile of POOP before I happily threw it away!
THAT is FUH-neee, Rita. LOVE IT!
WOW, I can see how that might be unfortunate–relating to at least one thing on every page? That’s a lot to handle.
Take one thing at a time and remember–when you moved from Wisconsin to Illinois, you were much better about clearing the clutter than I was. I held onto my POOP (Piles of Overwhelming Paperwork) in boxes–far from our kitty cats… although, they too did manage to mark some of those papers and books which I needed to discard, anyway. 😉
And since both of us have moved “west of the Mississippi,” we’ve had plenty of opportunities to downsize, rightsize, upsize??? Well, we’ll leave it at that.
At the very least, once you finish the book, Rita, Eric and I will have to christen you a STUFFologist!